Shady Tree Diary

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Saturday, February 16, 2013

As I was going through a few boxes in my attic (and let me tell you there are sooooooo many to go through!) I came across this old postcard that I bought at an antique store several years ago.

I remember there were boxes of old postcards there and I thought they were so intimate. Each had been written to someone along the road of life, and I remember thinking that it seemed so intimate to be able to read someone else's mail. Like I shouldn't be getting this little glimpse into the life and friendships of another. This particular card was among the first few I glanced at, and I so identified with the saying that I bought it. Isn't it the truth? I have found as I have gotten older that my quantity of friends may be increasing, but my true friends remain the same. The cherished ones. The reliable ones. And no matter how many friends you have on Facebook, or Twitter, or on your block, those true friends are always the same few. The saying strikes me even more than it did 15 years ago when I purchased this card.

My intention was to frame it for my home.

I wonder how old Mrs. Teague was when she received this postcard?

Well...you can see how long it took me to put my original intentions for this card into action, but the day is finally here. :)

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Oh my goodness, it has been soooo long! Life has been way too busy to blog and my crafting projects are fewer and farther between, BUT...it still comes to my mind and I miss it! In an effort to get back on track, I'm going to try to get back in the groove with a re-cap post on a few past Valentine projects. Valentine's Day has become a favorite "little" holiday for me since my daughter got old enough to participate. Now I look forward to it every year and am always looking for fun new things to incorporate. Hope you enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Hello friends! I'm still here! :) This has been the fastest summer of my entire existence...I swear. I don't know where it has gone, but school starts in just 3 weeks for my kiddo and 4 weeks for me. I am already feeling sad!! Many mommas are ready for the routine and truth be told, just ready for their kids to go back to school...but not this one! Yes...I need breaks, yes...we get tired of each other throughout the summer..., and yes...our days aren't always perfect. BUT. I still would rather us be home together than anywhere else. Call me weird, but that's hows I sees it! :)

I have projects in my mind, yet they don't seem to be materializing these days. Maybe it's the heat, or maybe it's just our busy summer schedule, but I'm a little bummed that a few of those haven't come to fruition. But...I did get this little task completed. One that I will thank myself for throughout the school year when I'm crazy busy and don't have the extra time for things I could have prepared over the summer!

Do you remember the little birthday gift exchange we do for the teachers and staff at my preschool? Well, to catch you up, each person contributes some small item(s) around $2-$3 to a birthday bag for each staff member each month. This might sound cheapy to some, but it's right up my alley! You would be surprised how many cute little things you get in your birthday bag, and always things you wouldn't have picked up for yourself. I loved opening my birthday bag last year. We have a monthly birthday lunch to celebrate, and open the bags during that time. Last year I made Notecard Gift Sets and Lovely Chipboard Bookmarks, and they were so well-received. I made those throughout the year though, and also picked up things along the way (store bought). For this year, I'm trying to get ahead of the game!

I picked up several sets of pens and hardback mini-journals from the $1 Spot at Target, and tied them up with a scrap ribbon.

Then I spotted some super cute decorative pens with coordinating kleenex packets and compact mirrors at Michaels. Score! I picked up several to make little sets of two. I used one of my handy pretty punches to make the tags, stamped a sentiment, and distressed the edges a bit. Let me just say: If you do not have a die cut machine, e-cutter, or something similar, don't fret! Picking up a couple of tag-like punches can REALLY make your life easier for little gifts for friends, co-workers, and teachers.

These happen to be from Stampin' Up, but you can find cute stamps on the $1 rack almost anywhere, and punches for $10-$12.

I tied them up with colored raffia that I was obligated to buy from a school fundraiser last year. I hate those things, but it actually came in handy this time!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Hello friends! Our Rainbow themed 8th birthday party was a big success and fun to put together. I promised that I would share, so be warned of lots of pictures forthcoming! I actually love planning parties for my kiddo, and although the guest list for this one was small (8 girls), I'm starting to think that maybe I would rather pay more and have the party elsewhere??? Terrible, I know...BUT...it's not because I don't thoroughly enjoy planning a themed party. It's mostly because I put so much pressure on myself for everything to be "just right" that I then sometimes forget to enjoy it. So...food for thought for next year, I guess!

My just-turned-8-year-old loved it, and that's what counts. I put everything together relatively cheaply, which I always strive to do. (Which is why the above mentioned pay-someone-else idea goes COMPLETELY against my grain.)

We handmade the invites this year, which I like because my kiddo got to help with them. Plus, it's lots cheaper!

We created these in Word, on a 4x6 card, then I rounded the corners with my paper punch. The kiddo added the rainbow at the top.

Each girl took home a small favor bag, that again, my kiddo added a few little touches to. Each bag included Skittles, 3 rainbow markers, and a unicorn rainbow lollipop.

I had a clipboard near the front door where parents could leave a contact number if they were dropping off. This worked really well, and I didn't have to keep up with numbers.

I whipped up this rainbow pennant....

...and we hung it over the room where she would be opening gifts and playing a few games. (This is the day before the party, so party stuff was still cluttering up that room!)

When each girl arrived, she was directed to write down her estimation of our Skittles jar. They dropped their guesses into a little rainbow box from the Target $1 Spot, and then I went through them during cake/ice cream. Our Skittles jar was actually a pickle jar from our recycling bin. I spray painted the lid with primer, then red spray paint. I tied a scrap piece of fabric for the ribbon, leftover from the pennant project. The girl with the closest guess took home the jar. (There were 300!) :)

We added mini water bottles to the red bucket, as well as napkins in the front. My kiddo decided to have rainbow iced cupcakes for her party with friends, and a rainbow cake for her party with family. I added the paper pennant triangles to the cupcake stand with simple scotch tape. I cut each of them with a Stampin' Up pennant die.

We played a few indoor classic games (like Limbo and Hot 'Cloud' ...it was 102 degrees outside), then headed out under a shade tree to make rainbow sand bottles.

I bought the colored sand at Hobby Lobby, and we cleaned and prepped Propel bottles from our recycling bin. We labeled the lids with each girl's name ahead of time, and stocked up on funnels and measuring cups from the $1 store. The girls LOVED this activity! They were all pretty serious about it, too. Apparently layering sand is serious business. :)

They all turned out lovely, and I think every girl was proud of her creation!

After cupcakes, ice cream, and gifts, we finished off our fun with a rainbow pinata (a special request from the birthday girl).

For our large family gathering, we opted for chocolate cake, and added the Skittles rainbow ourselves. My kiddo added all the Skittles (her fave candy), and really loved how it turned out.

Lots of fun, a cute theme, and pretty cheap, too. Although I'm an avid scrapbooker, we've made it a tradition the last few years to create a bound photo book of each birthday party (one with family, and one with friends). I always wait for a discount, which happened to be right after the parties, so both books should be arriving soon. They are so much fun to make and are wonderful keepsakes, too. I use Snapfish, and actually store all of my photos there as well.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Our summer is kicking off with birthdays GALORE! So many parties and gifts to buy, including those for my own birthday girl at the end of the month. Whew! Lots of fun, but keeping up with gifts can be costly and stressful at times. I would like for a gift to be fun and useful, but it's hard to know what children want that they don't already have.

Since all of our parties are for little girls about age 8, I often make purses and bags out of old jeans. I am now getting a few requests from parents that are familiar with them. Apparently they are used and loved by the kiddos, and that's the best reward for those of us that love to create!

Fun, right? So simple to make, and you get to upcycle old jeans at the same time!

For an upcoming birthday, my daughter requested that I make a bag for her special friend.

I found an outgrown denim skirt (kid sized) in my stash and and immediately pictured a crossover, larger bag...almost like a messenger bag.

Can you picture this skirt before I embellished it? In my excitement, I forgot to take a 'before' pic. :)

It was super simple to make!

First I sewed the bottom of the skirt closed using a matching thread. This didn't need to be cut off like a pair of shorts/jeans. I thought the original hem and little slits on the side looked more authentic, so I just stitched straight across to close up the bottom of the skirt.

I went through my fabric and came up with 2 coordinating patterns for the strap and cut them to 46". This is long for my daughter(who is of average height), but the recipient of the bag is EXTREMELY tall :), so we decided to add some length. (The 46" includes seam allowances.) I adhered some fusible fleece between the two fabrics to make the strap more durable and a little padded.

I sewed the straps on opposite sides of the skirt waist, then added the flowers to embellish it a bit.

I found a "K" brad in my scrapbook stash, so the bag got a little personalized tweak at the last

minute!

This is a great size for a few books or art supplies, or just to carry miscellaneous on-the-go.

What do you think?

Never throw away old jeans and denim skirts. You never know what they can transform into!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Hello friends! It has been too long between posts, and I hope to change that now that school is out and things are settling down a bit. We are working on planning a Rainbow themed 8th birthday party for the end of June, so I hope to share some of our planning and the final details with you as we go along. I'm loving all the cute ideas I'm finding for the Rainbow theme, and anxious to see it all put together!

Riffer was our fur baby before our human baby came along. He went with us almost everywhere, and really was another child in our house. His death was unexpected after a fall on our stairs, but he lived a long and wonderful life and brought us so much joy and laughter. He was 2 months shy of his 15th birthday, and we feel so blessed to have had him with us for so long and in overall good health.

So now that I've put the sad part out there, my project today lends itself to celebrating a pet's life after the loss. I hope that our little project might help someone else out there who is dealing with the loss of a pet. In losing Riff, my dear daughter lost a true best friend and playmate. As a way to help bring closure to our unexpected loss, we created a "Memory Box" last weekend.

This is so inexpensive but so completely filled with love that it really gave us a half an hour of laughter, tears, and memories remembering our boy.

I purchased a smaller-sized Rubbermaid tote (sorry that I ripped off the label and don't know the actual gallon size!) and we got busy with markers, scissors, and colored pencils. We planned to fill our box with Riff's puppy toys, his "blankie", harness, ID tags from our homes, sympathy cards, etc. All of our "Riff Keepsakes". My girl got busy writing phrases, messages, and drawing a picture or two to decorate the box.

Isn't it sweet? We tried to use some of his many nicknames.

I adhered each piece to the INSIDE of the box with clear packing tape, which just seemed easier than using contact paper. We really wanted the focus to be on remembering and decorating, and not on the application. The packing tape worked perfectly.

This is a picture of my daughter and Riff on the Rainbow Bridge.
I used permanent marker to title the top of the box, and then we filled it up. The whole family feels really pleased with how it turned out. Nothing fancy, but filled with love.

Thanks for stopping by and if you have a cherished pet, give it some extra love today.